Thursday, July 2, 2009

Nice Person

When Mr. Lieberman visited France recently, Mr. Sarkozy declined to meet with him, although he routinely received Ms. Livni, who was foreign minister in the last government.

According to the newspaper Yediot Aharonot, Mr. Sarkozy told Mr. Netanyahu that he should remake his government so that he, Ms. Livni and the defense minister, Ehud Barak, could produce historic breakthroughs for Middle East peace.

He was reported to have said, “I’ve always received Israeli foreign ministers. I met with Tzipi Livni in the Élysée Palace, but with that one I simply can’t meet. I’m telling you, you need to get rid of that man. Get him out of the government and bring in Livni. With her and with Barak you can make history.”

The paper said Mr. Netanyahu replied: “No need to exaggerate. Lieberman is a very nice person, and in private conversations he speaks differently.”

Mr. Sarkozy was reported to have replied, “In private conversations, Jean-Marie Le Pen is also a nice person.”

Mr. Sarkozy is said to have added of Mr. Lieberman, “Sometimes when I hear what he says I have the urge to pull out my hair.” He placed his hands on his head and grabbed his hair.

For one I doubt that Lieberman is a nice person even in private one to one communication. Two, even if he is a privately nice person, still I would like to know how we ended with a foreign minister who by all accounts is a persona non grata virtually everywhere in the world. Three, how long it's going to take them to realize and correct this mistake. This is not to say that I endorse in any way the anti Lieberman hysteria now very fashionable in some circles, but, still, for a country that so loves to complain about being misunderstood and deliberately vilified in the media, that was a very weird choice of FM. When you have a habit of pushing your head into a lion's mouth, don't be surprised if one day you return home without the head.

And on a bit different note...

...The Tripod Fish

The tripod fish is a relatively sedentary fish. It spends much of its adult life standing on the ocean bottom on its fins. The fish stands facing the prevailing current, and hunts by extending its unusually long pectoral fins into the current and waiting for the small crustaceans on which it feeds to simply bump into its fins. The fish grasps its prey in the pectoral fins and directs it toward its mouth.